In the past, a number of adjustable headrests have been utilized on the back of seats, such as automobile seats, lawn chairs, wheelchairs and the like, provided for the comfort and/or safety of the occupant. Some of these headrests have been relatively permanently affixed to the seat backs, whereas others have been removable therefrom when the period of their use has been completed.
Those headrests removable from the seat back have typically been supported either from a relatively stiff seat back, or else from the frame of the chair, and have been relatively heavy as well as expensive.
People required to spend a considerable part of their lifetime in a wheelchair often experience particular discomfort, and various support means may be provided on the wheelchair. A particular example is the U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,385, to Mommsen wherein means are shown such that a leg can be supported in a raised position.
Persons suffering from certain forms of arthritis, cancer, or from neck injury often are in particular need of head supports for their wheelchairs, and the patent to Lane, U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,589 is illustrative of a device designed to provide head or back support. However, a support device of that type is necessarily expensive, for it needs to have several adjustable portions, and effective locking means are utilized in three, four, or more locations to prevent slippage away from a selected position.
Perhaps even more disadvantageous is the fact that a wheelchair equipped with structural components of the type taught by Lane and others cannot be readily folded or collapsed, as is usually necessary in the instance it is desired to take the patient and his or her wheelchair for an automobile trip, or in a public conveyance.
Other known head support devices for wheelchairs have involved components designed to be inserted into the rearwardly-extending tubular handles of wheelchairs, in order for such headrest devices to be maintained in an effective position. Examples of the latter are the Montagano U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,310 and the East U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,740, but as can be readily seen from an inspection of such devices, the utilization of components in the wheelchair handles makes it exceedingly difficult for a nurse, friend or family member to push the wheelchair and its occupant from place to place. Additionally, it is important for the tubular handles of the wheelchair to be substantially parallel, and to be moved apart for a precise distance before the head support devices can be inserted into the handles.
It was to overcome the disadvantages of these and other such head support devices of the prior art that the present invention was evolved.